sweet potato (forum)

Michelle starts with ...
Having spent time living in Fiji I became accustomed to the sweet potato grown there, they were more round and white than those cultivated here, does anyone know the botanical name for the Fijian varieties?

Time: 23rd May 2010 2:42pm

Reply | LIKE this Answer(0) | LIKE this Question (0) | Report
About the Author Michelle13
nsw
#UserID: 3579
Posts: 3
View All Michelle13's Edible Fruit Trees

Damo says...
Its the same, you just ahve to track one down. I have seen them grown ex Qld, so they are around.

Time: 28th May 2010 8:42pm

Reply | LIKE this Answer(0) | LIKE this Question (0) | Report
About the Author Damo
 
#UserID: 2803
Posts: 77
View All Damo's Edible Fruit Trees

Michelle says...
Thank you Damo for replying. Will keep a look out.

Time: 3rd June 2010 11:35am

Reply | LIKE this Answer(0) | LIKE this Question (0) | Report
About the Author Michelle13
nsw
#UserID: 3579
Posts: 3
View All Michelle13's Edible Fruit Trees

Brendan says...
Just wondering if anyone else saw ABC Gardening last night, 31. 7. 10. (and repeated today at 1pm).
That lady 'up north' was planting sweet potato, but she intended to grow them up a trellis?
Now I'm not sure if she only wanted to harvest the leaves & tips of the sweet potato vine, but I don't think she was going to grow sweet potatoes, as they grow UNDER the ground,
not up a trellis.
The sweet potatoes I've grown would never work growing up a trellis, as the piece (or tip) of sweet potato that's planted, sprouts roots and usually rots away.
As the vine grows along the ground, it sends down spikes or roots, and these grow into sweet potatoes. I just can't see that happening up a trellis.

Time: 1st August 2010 7:25am

Reply | LIKE this Answer(0) | LIKE this Question (0) | Report

About the Author Brendan
Mackay, Q
#UserID: 1947
Posts: 1722
View All Brendan's Edible Fruit Trees

HappyEarth says...
Hey brendan, she was planting cuttings (stem) of the sweet potato not the tuber itself. Each stem will form a clump of sweet potatos to harvest down the track.

Rich
www.happyearth.com.au

Time: 1st August 2010 7:37am

Reply | LIKE this Answer(0) | LIKE this Question (0) | Report

About the Author HappyEarth1
Wollongong
#UserID: 215
Posts: 94
View All HappyEarth1's Edible Fruit Trees

Brendan says...
Ok HappyEarth, thanks for that.
I thought I must have missed something :-)

Time: 1st August 2010 7:42am

Reply | LIKE this Answer(0) | LIKE this Question (0) | Report

About the Author Brendan
Mackay, Q
#UserID: 1947
Posts: 1722
View All Brendan's Edible Fruit Trees

Brad says...
She said something about not wanting to crowd out other plants so I got the impression there was space saving going on by letting them run/climb up not over the bed

You can always watch it again online

PS how cool were the Adelaide oldies

Time: 1st August 2010 9:36am

Reply | LIKE this Answer(0) | LIKE this Question (0) | Report
Original Post was last edited: 1st August 2010 9:37am

About the Author Brad2
Como, Peth
#UserID: 2323
Posts: 762
View All Brad2's Edible Fruit Trees

Diana says...
Hi Brendan,

I did that with my sweet potatoes. It wasn't deliberate, the sweet potato bed was next to a trellis for a new grape, but the potatoes got there first. It worked well because the leaves feed the tubers- having a lot of leaves growing up a trellis meant that the part on the ground where the tubers were was extremely productive, completely full of potatoes. I have renovated this bed now, just leaving a small patch to regrow in summer.

Diana.
Pictures - Click to enlarge

Picture: 1

Time: 1st August 2010 11:50am

Reply | Edit | LIKE this Answer(0) | LIKE this Question (0) | Report
About the Author
Brisbane
#UserID: 0
Posts:
View All 's Edible Fruit Trees

Charles cant spell says...
As Diana says, for the running varieties this is a good idea, also yes you can eat the leaves/tips as a spinach substitute so growing it off the ground keeps it dirt/grit free. The plant will grow long roots and off those roots sweet potatoes. So there is no need to let it scramble along the ground and root along the way. You can do this but you are probable better planting multiple tips where you want the sweet potatoes to grow. The ground should be loose and mounded up a bit but not necessary.

The common orange skinned/orange fleshed sweet potatoes (Beauregard ?) runs a lot so trellising/growing up is a good option for this one.

The white skinned purple fleshed one (smaller and narrower tuber) is a nice clumping variety that has purple tips of new growth.

The purple skinned white flesh one (dense tuber that tastes like chestnuts) is also pretty stable/clumping.





Time: 1st August 2010 2:32pm

Reply | LIKE this Answer(0) | LIKE this Question (0) | Report

About the Author Charlesstillcantspell1
Perth Innaloo
#UserID: 2742
Posts: 411
View All Charlesstillcantspell1's Edible Fruit Trees